Project description
Personalised moderation interventions to combat online misbehaviour
Online platforms use moderation interventions (MIs) to tackle misbehaviour, yet the current one-size-fits-all approach overlooks individual user differences. Content moderation is more of an art than a science, with MIs often crafted based on intuition and subsequently refined through trial and error. Consequently, existing MIs exhibit varying efficacy and fall short of meeting moderation requirements. The ERC-funded DEDUCE project seeks to transform content moderation by introducing personalised moderation interventions (PMIs). This initiative involves evaluating current moderation practices and assessing their effectiveness and fairness. PMIs will be tailored to individual user characteristics, thereby enhancing their efficacy. Additionally, the project aims to develop causal methods and indicators for moderation practices, enabling the proactive evaluation of multiple moderation interventions.
Objective
Online platforms apply moderation interventions (MIs) to mitigate misbehavior. Today, MIs are one-size-fits-all, meaning that each intervention is applied in the same way for all users. However, not all users are the same, as they have diverse demographics, ideologies, and personalities. This naive approach to content moderation is platform-centered and neglects user differences. Moreover, content moderation resembles art more than science. The design of MIs is based on common sense and intuition, and progress is sought via trial-and-error rather than via a rigorous scientific process. The inevitable consequence is that current MIs have variable effectiveness, are highly unreliable, and fall short of the moderation needs.
The ambitious goal of DEDUCE is to initiate a paradigm-shift in content moderation, by building the theoretical and methodological foundations to move from intuition-driven approaches enforced via one-size-fits-all MIs, to science-driven strategies grounded on personalized moderation interventions (PMIs). We will develop causal methods and indicators to evaluate the effectiveness and fairness of current content moderation practices. Then, we will study how user characteristics influence the outcomes of moderation. Finally, we will leverage the acquired knowledge to design and evaluate PMIs, a first-of-its-kind endeavor. Our data-driven approach will enable us to evaluate in advance the effects of many MIs (what-if analyses) and to plan ahead their application, rather than to assess and correct afterwards. The high-gain nature of DEDUCE is evident, as it will open new directions of research (e.g. the design of PMIs), while also providing major practical and social benefits. Our results will yield groundbreaking advancements in the theory and practice of content moderation, and will be embodied in (i) practical guidelines for moderators and policymakers and (ii) an open-source proof-of-concept system to support both human and automated moderation.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- natural sciences computer and information sciences data science big data
- social sciences psychology social psychology
- natural sciences computer and information sciences internet world wide web
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
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Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants
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Call for proposal
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Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2023-STG
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
00185 Roma
Italy
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